More disadvantaged students go to university as Chinese places fall

13 comments

1. Good. Twerking and rule-bending by universities for international students was insane.

2. Incredibly bad news for universities. Every home student is loss-making and a lot of unis are already in trouble.

3. That might not be a good thing, unfortunately International students almost entirety finance courses. My chemistry degree cost me £9250 per year, but international students were paying £30 k per year. And more British students means unis have less money so would be more likely to keep only profitable subjects

   China’s economy isn’t doing great either and most people outside tier 1 cities can’t afford homes and middle class jobs are disappearing so spending is going down so there’s also that too

   Edit: my gf is Chinese and this is what her friends and family have been saying

   Edit 2: it’s pointless going to uni unless you have parents that can afford tuition because you’re paying £9250 per year and the **interest** that isn’t really spoken about. The only benefit to going is if you’re going into the medical profession, or Banking and Finance, Law or Consulting

4. I recently completed a MSc. The majority were foreign students. It left me wondering about the relevance of post graduate university education for uk nationals. Given the VAT, council tax and other tax exemptions we have a university system that subsides education for foreign students.

   Although foreign student fees were 3x what I paid the students were wealthy and often was seen as a cheap method to get a work visa and a passport. My course included a year in industry which was viewed very positively by foreign students.

   Before applying I was somewhat concerned I wouldn’t get a place because I wasn’t a higher paying international student.

5. Now white working class boys just need to be offered jobs to pay that debt off.

6. Wait, so the Chinese students were displacing British students. I thought it was always additional.

   How was that ever a good policy?

7. This would be fine if the govt funded universities better, otherwise hello closures!

8. 40 students per course @ 9k a person is 360k per year… Times that by x number of courses…I’m no maths genius but I’d say the universities need to invest in their own accounting courses and manage their finances better…
   This whole crying poor is dishonest.
   And if there are failing universities then maybe it’s time for some consolation in the market.

9. How are so many of these replies actually unhappy with this?

   So we’re saying some local disadvantaged kid can’t go to Uni because they don’t bring in enough money? What kind of shite thinking is that?

   I didn’t go to Uni cause I knew damn well my mum was struggling supporting me as it was, I secured a job before I left school and off I fucked into the workforce.

   But if someone wants a chance at learning then they should be given that chance. Mind you, I still find it crazy you even have to pay for it anyway.

10. Gotta love the British spirit of spinning bad news as a success!

    What this means in reality is a sharp decline in the funds that universities will have in the following years and soon we’ll see the consequences of that, which might impact the quality of education at a lot of universities. Of course more lcoals getting access to public education is good news, but that needs to be backed up by a different financing model and that’s still not happening

11. Shocked, SHOCKED I tell you.

    Now lets extrapolate that to every other service and resource in the UK.

12. Great news !

    Disadvantaged UK students should absolutely be priority over foreign students, often Chinese, who are known on occasion to submit fake English competency certificates and are interested only in the final qualification rather than integrating with their course cohort and staying in the UK post qualification. There is no benefit whatsoever to the UK economy save propping up universities as businesses.

    Disadvantaged young people who obtain a degree will be an asset to the country and contribute not only financially for many years but will have opportunities available to them that ordinarily they would absolutely not have.

13. I was a mature student at Birmingham uni last year on a funded course and I am 41. That uni has to be on the verge of financial collapse, and investors too. There were shiny new buildings everywhere, and a lovely restaurant area nearby which is still the place to go to for South Korean and Chinese food (the two biggest countries I noted, with Ghana and Nigeria). Starbucks and bao buns everywhere, loads of money made on food, bubble tea, services and accommodation, definitely with an international customer in mind.